Wilmot Township resident celebrates 90th birthday with family and friends

Mary Ellen Zehr and her husband, Glenn Zehr, celebrated her 90th birthday over the weekend near New Hamburg. Gary West photo

By Gary West

Hillcrest Mennonite Church west of New Hamburg was the setting Saturday for a milestone celebration marking the 90th birthday of Mary Ellen Zehr.

Family and friends gathered to surprise Zehr on the occasion, celebrating nine decades of life shaped by faith, family and community service.

Born Mary Ellen Lebold on Jan. 14, 1936, in Wellesley Township, she was raised on a farm near Milverton with her parents and three siblings. She grew up during a time when farming was done with teams of horses and, later, small tractors. The family’s first automobile, replacing the horse and buggy, was a Model A Ford.

Education played an important role in her early life. Zehr attended S.S. No. 2 Poole Elementary School, a one-room schoolhouse, and credits her upbringing with instilling strong values of faith and hospitality. She attended Maple View Mennonite Church near Wellesley where church life, Sunday school and summer Bible school were central to her childhood.

It was during a Sunday evening church service that she met Glenn Zehr. The couple has now been married for 69 years and has shared a life of farming, pastoring and extensive travel together. They farmed in East Zorra Township near Hickson in Oxford County, where they raised their family.

The Zehrs are parents to six biological children and welcomed a chosen daughter, Caroline, into their family in 1964. Mary Ellen Zehr speaks proudly of her family, which now includes 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. She says life has brought both joys and challenges, but she has always tried to remain positive and grateful.

She credits her “Godly heritage” and previous generations for shaping the life she has lived and gives thanks for good health that continues to allow her to remain active. Mary Ellen Zehr volunteers at the New Hamburg MCC thrift shop and has offered her hospitality, skills and friendship in the churches and communities where she and her husband have lived.

Now retired and living at Nithview Community in New Hamburg, Mary Ellen Zehr continues to enjoy gardening, a lifelong passion that has seen her transform empty spaces into vibrant flowerbeds. Family members say she also delights in baking and sharing food, with a cookie jar that is rarely empty for visitors.

Still active, Mary Ellen Zehr enjoys walking through New Hamburg in the warmer months and uses exercise equipment at home during the winter. She lives by the words of Psalm 16:6: “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a good inheritance.”

In lieu of gifts, Mary Ellen Zehr requested donations be made to the local MCC meat canning program in New Hamburg, a cause she feels strongly supports those in need around the world.